MAKING YOUR OWN PERFUME

BLENDING

Putting a perfume together is rather like composing a piece of music. The perfume "notes" must harmonise with each other.

Essential oils are classified as Top, Middle and Base Notes, and a good perfume should have a balance of all three.

BASE NOTES are deep, lingering and necessary to "fix" the blend. They often hang around long after the other notes have evaporated.

MIDDLE NOTES give heart to a perfume, they round it off, and provide a balance between Base and Top.

TOP NOTES are very light and uplifting. They will strike you first, but if they are not properly balanced with Middle and Base, they will vanish in no time at all. When you build your perfume, start with the Base and gradually add the other notes little by little, shaking and testing as you go.

TOP: Grapefruit, orange, lemon, peppermint, eucalyptus.

TOP TO MIDDLE: Bergamot, petitgrain, lavender, cardamom.

MIDDLE: Palmarosa, geranium, neroli, black pepper, clary sage, juniper, ginger, marjoram, pine, rosemary, rose absolute, ylang ylang.

MIDDLE TO BASE: Cypress, jasmine, rose otto, myrrh, sandalwood.

BASE: Frankincense, benzoin, patchouli, vetiver.

COLOGNES AND AROMATIC WATERS

100 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) orangeflower water
100 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) rosewater
60-70 drops essential oils

Pour the water into an amber glass bottle and add the essential oils carefully, drop by drop as for the oil perfume. Keep in a cool, dark place for a week or two to ripen. Pour through a coffee filter paper and rebottle.

OIL BASED PERFUME

20 ml (4 teaspoons) jojoba or coconut oil
10-15 drips essential oil

Fill an amber bottle with the carrier oil and then add the essential oils carefully, drop by drop, shaking and testing as you go. Use roughly 10-15 drops of essential oil to 20-25 ml (4-5 teaspoons) of carrier oil. If kept tightly capped in a cool place for a week or so, the blend will settle and improve.

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